Volunteers Talk To Prisoners About God

Once a week, Dan Moretti takes the word of God to those who need it most.

As Broward County coordinator for the Broward Sheriff's Office Department of Detention Ministry, Moretti ministers to inmates in the county's jails.

"I try to bring God's word to those who are incarcerated," said Moretti, who is also the deacon at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in Pompano Beach. "I find it extremely rewarding. This is one of the first ministries I became involved in outside the church."

The ministry visits state and county jails and ministers to the general population, which includes all offenders, those awaiting trials and the area known as lockdown, where inmates convicted of more serious crimes are kept.

More than 1,400 volunteers from all faiths and religions participate in the ministry, said Rick Braswell, who serves as chaplain for the Sheriff's Office.

"We make sure that each person who is incarcerated has the opportunity to have religious services," Braswell said. "It's a partnership. The law enforcement and the religious community come together to make a difference in these people's lives."

Moretti, who has worked with the ministry for 14 years, finds solace in ministering to the incarcerated.

"Sometimes I don't know who ministered to who," Moretti said. "We also minister to the forgotten prisoners, the family of the incarcerated. Oftentimes they are in dire straits because the family breadwinner is in jail."

"We don't go in to find out if they're guilty or not," Moretti said. "We bring the word of God. I'm hopeful that it brings comfort to those I minister to.

"My reward is not just the good feeling I get from it, but hearing from those I have ministered to. I get letters from people who have been sent off to another part of the state. I hear how at last they have found Christ. There is nothing better than that."

William Bell, who recruits Detention Ministry volunteers at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Coral Springs, agreed.

"The most rewarding part of the ministry is seeing the joy in the faces of these men who are not visited by anybody," Bell said. "There is a transmission of brotherhood that takes place when we minister to them."

In his six years with the ministry, Bell has seen about 300 inmates. During his fourth year of visiting the Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, an inmate was stabbed and Bell and other volunteers were transferred to the Stockade Facility, he said.

Bell added that at no time during his visits to various jails did he feel unsafe. Security is thorough and visitors must pass through seven electrically controlled doors to get to the pod where the inmates live, he said. Ministry volunteers also must undergo a two-month security check before gaining clearance to visit.

"There is a great need for this," Moretti said. "There is a good population of these incarcerated people who have great talent and are only in their situation due to circumstances ... because no one has shown them love. Living without love is a dismal life."

Bell maintains that there is hope for every inmate. "I hope to convert them," he said. "To change their lives for the better and to help them avoid repeating their crimes. Through the word of God, I want to show them love and compassion."

On Monday, Braswell will teach an orientation class for anyone interested in volunteering in the ministry. The free class will be at 7 p.m. at the Broward County Public Safety Building, 2601 W. Broward Blvd.